Rise of Vaibhav Suryavanshi: Facing 600 balls-a-day from age of 10 to playing 150km throwdowns

New Delhi: It takes a village to raise a champion is an old saying and 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi fits that adage perfectly.

The rise of Vaibhav is an incredible story where a range of people joined hands to ensure that a boy, barely in his teens, could play his first high-stakes match in professional cricket without a trace of fear.

He made the world sit up and take note of his talent by smacking Shardul Thakur for a six in the very first delivery he faced in IPL on Saturday.

Such a talent did not emerge overnight.

The foundation of this incredible story was laid when his father Sanjiv Suryavanshi sold his farmland to fuel his son's cricket dreams.

Taking it forward was Patna-based cricket coach Manish Ojha, who recognised the special talent and ensured that Vaibhav, all of 10 at that time, gets to face at least 600 deliveries a day to be ready for the big challenge when the opportunity knocks on the door.

Then Bihar Cricket Association backed its boy and fast-tracked him into Ranji Trophy just as when he hit the teens.

The U-19 national selectors, under chairmanship of Thilak Naidu. pushed him into 'colts Test cricket'.

And finally the likes of Rahul Dravid and Zubin Bharucha at Rajasthan Royals did their bit in polishing the uncut diamond by making him face side-arm throwdowns at 150-plus clicks leading up to the start of IPL.

When the average 14-year-olds are busy playing PS5, and managing 'homework', the teenager from Bihar's Samastipur muscled one from multi-Test veteran like Shardul Thakur into Sawai Man Singh Stadium stands, leaving thousands astonished.

A 34-run ball off 20 balls in IPL universe is a routine stuff but if the owner of the innings is just into his teens, fans would want to know more about Rajasthan Royals' Rs 1.10 crore recruit.

"His father Sanjiv brought him to me when he was eight years old. Every child is different but from that age, if I look at other boys of his age, he had the sense to execute whatever he was taught. His stance, back-lift, execution, intent, the four pillars were always in sync," Ojha told PTI talking about his ward.

But how a 14-year-old, who is still in his formative years, generates such power in his strokes that he sent the ball sparing into the stands not once but thrice while facing a top notch attack? "You people saw power in his shot, I saw the body position, bat swing and perfect timing. If power would be only criteria to hit sixes, then wrestlers would have played cricket. This is five years of training, playing 600 hundred balls every day.

"Other boys at academies would play may be 50 balls a day. I have uploaded around 40 videos of Vaibhav's training sessions on YouTube. You will see his bat swing is like Yuvraj Singh," the proud coach added.

Vaibhav's father Sanjiv has been specifically asked not to interact with media as the youngster needs to be shielded from unnecessary hype which can unsettle him.

Ojha, though, couldn't stop praising his father and his sacrifices.

"His parents are amazing. His father would travel 100 km up and down every second day to take him for matches. The mother was very particular about his diet. If someone plays 600 balls per day, he would need more nourishment in terms of protein.

"By the way I saw that I was quoted that he has stopped eating pizzas but he never ate them so there was no question of stopping. And yes, he eats mutton because protein is necessary," the coach set the record straight.

Ojha then narrated the magnanimity of Suryavanshi senior.

"Since Vaibhav trained for extra hours, Sanjiv ji would pack 10 tiffin boxes. One for Vaibhav and rest for all the net bowlers, who devoted extra time bowling to him. Arranging food for 10 boys every second day. You will know how much it can strain your pocket. But they knew cricket was his calling and they invested everything in that," Ojha said.

Preparation for IPL

Just after the IPL auction ended and Vaibhav had completed his domestic season for Bihar, he attended four camps conducted by the Royals.

One of the camps was at their state-of-the-art academy in Maharashtra's Talegaon, where international players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag have all trained.

"He stayed back between the camps as it would have been very stressful for a then 13-year-old to travel regularly from camp to home and back," a Royals source said.

But having experience of playing just the U-19 and Plate group Ranji Trophy matches, how did Royals prepare him for the big IPL test? It is understood that neither head coach Dravid nor Bharucha, one of the most respected cricket coaches, wanted any customized plan for him.

"You don't want to create any difference in the preparation. This is to ensure everyone feels they are being pushed equally, so he knows he has to keep up to everyone else's standards.

"A few tweaks like, we started making him play high pace (with the sidearms that can generate a speed over 150kmph) to get used to some of the faster bowlers that he might play in the IPL," the source added.

Vaibhav's journey has just started and he will be followed keenly.